Well long story short some electrical tape made its way into the bottom of my oil pan. Any ideas as to how to get it out? or should I just run my engine with it in there. Its about 3 inch folded. Any help would be appreciated thanx guys. And please no flaming

 

Depending on the width it could plug up you oil pick up. Have tried draining the oil and seeing if you can see it? Maybe you can get into pan thru the plug with a dental pick.

If its a V6 it is possible pull the pan. You might get away with running it but I would not risk it.

 

Its an Ls1 btw. Heard oil pan is very difficult to remove. (and very time consuming) I did try to drain the oil but didnt really look inside the hole. Its about 1/2 inch or so in width and 3 inches folded (so about 6 inches laid down straigt)

I'm afraid to run it as it might starve the engine of oil. Anymore suggestions?

 

Chances are it wiil soon dissolve in the hot oil. Keep an eye on the oil pressure gage.

 

It could get caught in the pickup screen and block oil flow, so I would try to do as Gorn said while its draining, if it floats, well it could land anywhere inside. Could experiment on a piece of tape to see if it dissolves or floats.

 

How did it get into the engine? If it fell through the oil filler tube I would venture to guess that you will find in under the valve cover.

Massey

 

It won't dissolve, at least not quickly. Electrical tape is normally made from a type of vinyl and while the glue can quickly lose adhesion when contaminated with oil or gas, the vinyl stays intact.

How certain are you that it ended up in the oil pan?

If it went in through the filler hole (about the only way I can imagine it getting in there without disassembly), then it is probably still up in the valve train. Pull the cover if that is the case and retrieve it.

Personally, I wouldn't run it. Even if it doesn't clog the oil screen, it could get chewed up into smaller pieces by the moving parts. Pieces small enough to maybe get through the oil pickup tube and potentially cause problems with the oil pump.

 

Got inside through the dipstick tube. Pulled the dip stick and no tape so I assume its in the bottom of the oil pan.

Drain and refilled engine about 10 times. Didn't come out so I will try to hit it up with a metal hanger through the drain hole.

Ran some "tests" on the vinyl electrical tape. Tried to flame it with a lighter so Lighter = 600'C-800'C= tape barely shriveling up then combusting a little. Not exactly the results I was hoping for. (http://www.derose.net/steve/resource...flametemp.html) Check out the LINK!

Next test I boiled the sh*t out of it with results of the tape just shrinking a tad bit...

In conclusion I would presume the tape wouldn't "dissolve" into the oil.

 

nope wont desolve. it will get hard over time. the old wrap the dip stick to get it to seal trick eh. lol. it may be stuck somewhere along the dipstick tube. you could pull it and see if its stuck in tube.

 

well...guess I gotta go pull the oil pan YAY!...

Tried a metal hanger and couldn't find the dang thing...oh well